


The Gift

by PalestAzure



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Humor, Not Canon Compliant - Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Reylo - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-30
Updated: 2020-04-30
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:00:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23927260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PalestAzure/pseuds/PalestAzure
Summary: Leia gives Rey a gift, but that's not the only gift Rey will receive.
Relationships: Rey & Ben Solo, Rey & Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 6
Kudos: 48





	The Gift

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place after the events of TROS. In this story, Leia is alive and Rey is not a Palpatine.

“These were my mother’s.”    
  
Leia pulled out one of her mother’s dresses. Rey admired the bright and rich yellow, pink, orange, and lilac hues. She never knew such radiant colors existed, let alone ones that could easily merge seamlessly to create an elegant gradient that represented the soft, natural beauty of the planet of Naboo.

Rey looked down at her simple white attire, stained in greys and browns from the battles. The contrast was significant. Rey felt her face flush hot as she mentally made comparisons between the two outfits. One was fit for royalty, who carried elegance and grace. Rey was no royalty, but Leia was. Her family had a long legacy of royalty, senators, Jedi, and Sith alike. Rey was no one. A nobody, and that is how she dressed. Simple and with basic and dull colors. Greys, browns, and whites fit her scavenger past. 

But Rey could see a sadness in Leia’s eyes as she took down the dress, staring at it. She wondered what memories or thoughts the dress held for Leia. Obviously ones that brought her a great deal of pain. Leia had lost everyone important to her, her entire family. Rey didn’t realize how important her mother’s dresses were to her, but based on Leia’s demeanor, Rey felt it best to let Leia be for the moment. 

“Rey, I want you to have this.”

That was not what Rey had expected to hear. 

“But I’ve never worn anything like that before.”   
  
Leia smiled, holding the dress up to Rey.

“If things had been different, I may have been able to give these to my grandaughter, but…”   
  
Leia trailed off, her eyebrows furrowing at some deep thought. Rey assumed she was thinking of Ben. But she placed a hand on top of Leia’s. 

“No one’s ever truly gone.” Rey’s voice was neither sorrowful nor concerned, but confident and certain.

“You sound like Luke.” Leia gave Rey a soft smile. 

As Ben’s dyad in the Force, Rey knew she could feel and sense him in a way that not even his own mother could. When he disappeared, she never felt him truly leave. It wasn’t like Luke passing and becoming one with the Force. She could still feel him still out there somewhere. But she hadn’t mentioned that to anyone. Leia believed her son was dead, gone from her like Han and Luke. But there was something else Rey had not disclosed. 

She planned to leave to go searching for him.

Rey turned her gaze towards the window that framed the now setting sun over the picturesque landscape. The galaxy was vast, but she would find him. She believed their bond would lead her to him.

As her thoughts settled on Ben, Leia interrupted them by handing Rey the dress.

“Try it on. Let’s see how it fits.”

“Um…”

Leia left to give Rey time to put on the dress. She studied the design, trying to figure out where each part went. She saw parts of the gown that looked like sleeves, but questioned how to slip her body into it. There were too many confusing aspects of this dress from the various metal attachments to the different openings. She sighed and sat down with the gown in her lap. 

“Learning to use the Force is easier than learning how to put this on.” She found the thought of wearing it truly terrifying. 

But Leia intrusted her with it. Leia probably saw something in her that Rey didn’t see in herself. Rey never thought of herself as beautiful or a woman who exhibited such elegance thought could carry an outfit such as this. But she decided to try for Leia, a woman she had grown to care for as a mother. 

Rey disrobed from her wrap top, pants, arm sleeves, and boots. She held up the dress trying to determine the front from the back. There was a large piece of metal attached to a part of the fabric. That might be where her neck would go, then perhaps she could slip her arms into the other openings she thought to be sleeves. Those too had some metal attachments.

She now had a plan.

As she tried slipping it on, she felt her hair get caught somewhere. She tried pulling, but it only made it worse. She found herself turning around in circles trying to reach where her hair felt caught. But she couldn’t see as her head was inside the dress. Her failed attempt left her feet to catch on the parts of the dress that were bunched up on the floor. She stumbled but then fell forward, knocking something down with her to the floor.

She cursed under her breath, reeling from the pain that throbbed along her back. But at least it felt as if her hair was free.

“Rey, what happened?”

She heard Leia’s voice. And then Rey felt Leia’s hands trying to help her up. 

“Sorry. I don’t know what I’m doing.”

“No, I apologize. I should have stayed to help you.”

Leia began to reposition the dress on her. Soon Rey caught fresh air again as the dress came down over her head. The metal neckline was cold against her skin, which made her slightly shiver. But she stood there as Leia adjusted the metal that adorned her neck and arms, leaving her shoulders bare and exposed. Leia finished adjusting all of the little intricate parts of the dress until the gown set perfectly on the former scavenger. 

But Rey’s shoulders hunched forward, her head partially looking downward, as she felt a bit self-conscious. But when Leia’s eyes reached her, they lit up in admiration.

“That dress was meant for you,” Leia commented. 

The fabric was light and loose. It didn’t hug her figure like everything else she had worn before. Leia gently pressed against Rey’s back to help with her posture. Rey lifted her arms, feeling the weight of the metal against her muscles, but then began to move them side to side, amusing herself with the delicate movement of the fabric attached to her arms. The colors danced for her. 

“Come. Sit down. Let me do your hair.”

Leia slowly undid each of Rey’s buns, allowing her hair to cascade along her back and shoulders. Rey could feel a brush to her hair, and she relaxed to Leia taking care of her. She didn’t know what Leia was doing with her hair, but it felt nice. 

“We’re missing something. Let me go get a few accessories.”

Leia squeezed Rey’s shoulder before leaving. 

Rey got up and tried to walk around in the dress. The hem of the dress met the floor and her feet--again--easily caught on it as she tried to take more steps, nearly tripping over herself. 

“This is impossible,” she complained. 

She lifted the dress from both sides, seeing her bare feet underneath. She was certain she would have to wear appropriately matching footwear at some point. 

As she waited for Leia, an intense feeling rushed through her, making her breath catch in her throat. She hadn’t felt something that strong since she was a child on Jakku, a coldness that she felt deep in her soul. But this time, it wasn’t cold. It was warm. And it was distinctly him. 

No. It couldn’t be. 

Rey bunched up some of the fabric into her hands, as she raced towards the balcony of the room. The balcony opened out into a vast backyard of rolling grass plains. Her eyes searched across the lands until she saw a figure from afar approaching the direction of the villa. She couldn’t make the person out, but she could feel him. It was a strong, overpowering feeling that beckoned for her, longed for her, loved her. 

She leapt from the balcony to the green below. She ran as fast as she could, the dress bunched up in front of her as her legs freely carried her across the rolling hills. And it was then that she didn’t think about the dress or her clumsiness in it. All she could focus on now was him, and how their bond pulled her to him in that very instant. 

As she grew closer, he began to come into view. And a powerful realization washed over her. 

He was the one looking for her. 

He was still in the same black shirt with the hole across his abdomen, the same black pants, and black boots. He took strong, purposeful steps towards her. His posture straightening. His strides becoming longer.

But their bond and need for each other were no match for her clumsiness, and she tripped over her dress once again and fell forward onto the ground. She heard his footsteps gaining quickly, and she sat up on her knees. But once he finally reached her and slid to his knees before her, she could only do one thing. 

Laugh.

She saw him break into a wide, open smile. And he then began to laugh with her.

“This was not how I pictured seeing you again,” Rey confessed while trying to catch her breath.

The amused look left Ben’s eyes, as they softened with a hopeful glint. His large hands took her face and held it gently. 

“Rey?”

She saw the heart rending tenderness of his gaze, that traveled over her face and searched her eyes. 

“How did you--? Where did you--?” Rey searched back. 

“I told you I’d come back for you, sweetheart. Surely you must know, if I’m with you, I will always be on the right path.”

His words released her, and she flung herself against him. They wound their arms around each other, with tears of happiness and relief finding their way to their eyes. The lost half of her soul was no longer, and Rey finally felt home. She finally had her family. 

Ben stood to his feet. When Rey looked up at him, she saw his hand outstretched towards her. There was no hesitation. She placed her hand in his, and when his fingers enclosed around her hand, he pulled her up to him. The mere touch of his hand sent a warming shiver through her.

As she fully stood, she noticed his gaze scan her body.

“It seems I’ve missed a lot while I was gone.”

Rey felt that same flush burn across her face, her gaze averting from Ben’s. But he still held onto her hand, while looking at her with that Solo smirk. 

“Speaking of being gone, what happened?”

They began walking towards the villa.

“It’s a long story. The World between Worlds. Luke. My grandfather. Some other Jedi of the past.”

But Ben stopped. 

A growing concern grew across his face. Rey knew Ben sensed his mother. He hadn’t seen his mother for so many years, not since she sent him off to train with Luke. There was much he feared. And it was that fear that Rey now felt. She felt his grip on her hand become firmer.

“I’ll help you,” she whispered affectionately, reminiscent of their time in the elevator to Snoke. But unlike that time, Ben now nodded and smiled in assurance at her. Rey could feel how their trust for each other stitched their souls together, uniting them in the Force and in life. 

As they continued their walk towards the villa and Leia, the length of the gown still gave away her lack of experience. She continued to stumble as she walked until Ben swept her, weightless, into his arms. 

“What are you doing?”

“Looks like you might need a little help there, sweetheart.”

Rey’s first instinct was to rebuke his offer and scold him, but at that moment she resisted the temptation. Instead, she put her arms around his neck and buried her hands into his thick hair.

“I’ll allow it just this once.”

She watched as his lips slowly descended to meet hers. She then felt his lips touch hers like a whisper. They both savored every moment of their lingering kiss. 

In the end, Maz was right all along. There was always one person who would come back to her. And he did.

  
  



End file.
